ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Good thing it was just a typo. The jackpot advertised in a flier the Virginia Lottery distributed to find the holder of a winning ticket could have broken the bank - any bank.
The fliers went out in a bid to locate the winner of the $1.7 million June 14 Lotto drawing. But the fliers said the jackpot was ``$1,703,566 million.''
``When we got it back from the graphic artist, none of us noticed that made it a million million,'' said Paula Otto, a spokeswoman for the state Lottery Department in Richmond.
A million million is a trillion, so the jackpot as printed on the flier would have amounted to $1.7 trillion, equal to one-third the national debt. There would be 20 annual payments of nearly $58 billion after taxes.
That kind of prize could give the winner immediate clout in Washington, where President Clinton and Republicans in Congress are wrangling this week over whether to cut taxes by $98 billion or $245 billion over the next seven years.
Actually, the winner is owed about $58,000 a year after taxes. But Lotto winners have only 180 days after the drawing to claim the prize or the money goes to the State Literary Fund for low-interest school-construction loans.
In this case, the deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, Otto said. The winning numbers were 10-14-16-17-19-41.
No one claimed the jackpot Thursday, Otto said.
The mistaken fliers were quickly fixed, but Otto said the error may serve a purpose.
``We want to find this person,'' she said. ``If we do from all the attention because we made a boo-boo, that's OK.''
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB